Better get used to it fast; this town smells like rotten eggs. Strongly. Everywhere. It sits on a rift in the continental plates, thus the crust is much thinner, making way for hot, pressurized steam and minerals to bubble up to the surface. In the area between Taupo and Rotorua (central North Island), there are geothermal plants producing more energy than they know what to do with. I learned much more about the way geothermal plants work from the gentleman who drove us from Rotorua to Taupo, but I won't bore you.
Having said this, walking around Rotorua Sawyer and I were jealous to find that many people have geothermal pools of their own in the backyard in which to soak, because of the randomness of steam vents. The Maori used to cook food in them, and being a culture so connected to the power of earthly elements, this region was fiercely fought over.
At the beginning of the trip Sawyer and I had chosen which thrill adventures we were willing to splurge on: white water rafting and bungy jumping (although thinking now, it wasn't much of a splurge as I spent the same amount yesterday on groceries for the next week and a half). We booked a trip on a river almost 70 degrees Fahrenheit(20C) with the largest commercially rafted waterfall in the world (approx 22ft or 7m high). I have no pictures because I wasn't willing to drop $40 on that. I find it hard to describe exactly what it was like except that the guides were spirited, commands easy to follow, and raft stunts adrenaline inducing.
